Hinata — Restaurant in San Francisco

For our last night of a bach trip, we decided to do it up and get some omakase (and we all wanted some west coast sushi). Unfortunately, it was pretty underwhelming overall. For $98 and the quality of some of the pieces we got, it was a bit disappointing.

Here is the menu for 5/22/21:

Appetizers - snow crab kani salad, eggplant w/miso sauce, firefly squid. I could have done without these. They were pretty basic and I remember the squid being fishy

Sashimi - madai/maguro/King salmon - can't go wrong with king salmon but honestly, I don't even remember the other two

Nigiri - striped jack/fluke/golden eye snapper/young snapper - these were fine. Maybe my expectations are too high or maybe omakase in NYC is just better

Simmered Dish - simmered Hokkaido scallop/grilled Sawara sashimi/King mackeral sashimi with ponzu - I did not like the scallop. It tasted like the dried scallops you would buy to put in Chinese soups

Nigiri - sweet fish/cherry trout, Japanese barracuda, salmon roe with sea urchin/negi toro/chutoro - I enjoyed the sea urchin and my favorite were definitely the two tunas. You can rarely go wrong with a fatty tuna

Soup - fish broth with miso - a nice way to end the meal

Dessert - hojicha ice cream - I love hojicha, especially in ice cream form

I would say I liked about half the dishes, so I'm not sure if it was really worth the $98 price tag. There are probably better omakase...

Omakase was decent, sakes were fantastic.

First off, I was a bit surprised to find that not all guests are seated at the bar; about half are shown to tables and waited on like a conventional restaurant. I hope this is for a non-omakase service, but I’m not sure. There are three front-of-house chefs that serve omakase to patrons around the bar, which seats around 12 people.

The rice left much to be desired. It seemed like a common sushi grain, Tamaki Gold or similar, but despite a pair of Zojirushi induction cookers on display and a sizable kitchen staff, the rice came out firm and chewy. Seasoning was minimal; very little flavor and a bit sweet. I prefer more robust rice with ample acidity to balance the fish, alas.

The nigiri were on the smaller side, often made as a batch before being served to the guests dining at the bar, though select pieces were served as they were prepared. All nigiri used pre-prepared wasabi that looked conspicuously like a rehydrated powder product. I didn’t bother confirming this, however.

All told my price for a single omakase with two additional pieces a la carte (wagyu nigiri, which wasn’t well prepared, and tamago) and three 3oz glasses of junmai daiginjo was approximately $150, tip non-inclusive. I’ve had much better omakase experiences for the price, and despite excellent sake options, I don’t...

As I walked into the restaurant, it wowed me on the space. I loved the ambiance and decorations. When the server checked us in she showed us to a table. Big kudos to her that when I told her that I put in the notes on my reservation that I wanted sushi bar only and she was able to accommodate my request.

As for the food, I really wanted to like Hinata. The price was affordable, less than $80 for an omakase. It started off really well with the quad triple appetizers. They were all really good. The braised octopus was my favorite because it was super tender and delicious. The nigiri fish selection was super fresh and prepared well, just that nothing blew me away. They used the same soy sauce for all the nigiris. It was just okay. There were 2 highlights of the night and both were on the additional a la carte menu, Kegani and O-Toro Remix. The Kegani is the Hokkaido horse hair crab meat with miso crab butter. The richness of the miso crab butter enhanced the salty sweetness of the crab meat. The O-Toro Remix is pure decadence. It's starts off with a piece of seared tuna belly, then topped with Santa Barbara sea urchin, freshly shaved black truffles and topped with gold.

The sushi chef, Gavin was great to talk to. Not only was he was passionate about sushi, he was a major foodie, just like us. It was fascinating to hear his...